


Mad and Foolish King

by HisWarrior



Series: @thechrisbarnett [2]
Category: Chris Barnett - Fandom, Original Work, TikTok - Fandom
Genre: @thechrisbarnett, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Angst, Descent into Madness, F/M, Heartbreak, Love, acting challenge, acting to writing, medieval romance, royal acting challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:27:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27167920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HisWarrior/pseuds/HisWarrior
Summary: She was gone.One moment, she was there. Next to me, beside me, near me. A steady presence and a wise word that kept my hand in check and my heart aligned.But, a moment, a breath. And she had vanished from me.Part 1 of Version 2.
Series: @thechrisbarnett [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1982804
Kudos: 1





	Mad and Foolish King

She was gone.

One moment, she was there. Next to me, beside me, near me. A steady presence and a wise word that kept my hand in check and my heart aligned.

But, a moment, a breath. And she had vanished from me.

_“Is wedding me truly worth starting a war?”_

Marrying her was worth starting a thousand wars. And now, the entire world was aware of it.

I took a heavy gulp of the wine, savoring the bitterness in my mouth. But then again, everything tasted bitter now. As if coated with a film that I couldn’t get rid of.

The door to my meeting room was opened, and I turned to see the captain of my guard hauling in a stunningly beautiful woman.

Or at least, they told me that the princess now standing before me was stunningly beautiful. Everything had turned to sharp edges and gray hues compared to the woman my heart belonged to.

Three months without her, and my world had gone to hell.

I took another draft of the wine, wincing now as pain seared my throat, and motioned for the captain to leave. A look crossed his face; a pained look of discouraged hope. But he followed my direction, and left me with the princess I would make my wife.

“Well hello my dear,” I said, my voice a stranger to me. Cold and hollow. “The guards mentioned you were in a mood.”

The young lady glared at me, the pride of her rank and position showing itself in all of its fullness.

My lady had never borne such a gaze.

“Mood?!” the princess exclaimed. “Is that what you call being help prisoner by a pathetic excuse for a man?”

Yes. Completely and utterly pathetic. Haunted by the voice of another woman who would be devastated at the turn I had taken.

I had no recollection of when I had made that turn.

“Do change that gloomy outlook?” my voice said instead.

“Pray tell, what other outlook is there?” came the sharp, bitter reply.

I could have told her highness of a thousand other outlooks there should have been. Of all the other outcomes I had longed for. Desired.

But all of them, snatched from me by a woman I had trusted with all of me. The lady I had poured my heart into. All to vanish in the night without a backward glance.

“Perhaps being the most fortunate maiden in the land.”

The words were a lie. To myself and to the lady standing before me. Neither of us considered the situation I had forced her into ‘fortunate’. However much I might have desired it to be. Something to recompense the actions I felt compelled to act upon.

A look of disdain and horror crossed her features.

“Do you not hear yourself? You’ve truly gone mad!”

The words echoed in me.

_“You are a mad and foolish king.”_

They rang like a death toll.

_“You are a mad and foolish king.”_

Her last words to me that day.

_“You are a mad and foolish king.”_

My response to her rang equally as powerful.

_“Perhaps. But I am your foolish king.”_

My empty glare gazed down at her highness. This woman would gather no such words from me.

“Mad? Madly handsome, madly powerful perhaps.”

This arrogance within me bubbled in a well of hatred and anger. With no clear direction of where to place it. Either with the noble court who had driven me to a war I had never desired before? Or with the woman who had left me to their clutches?

“Are you insane?!” the noble lady before me demanded. “Have you forgotten who I am? My father and his army will come for me!”

_Let them come._

I was already so far away from the man my love had known. Out of reach from any love or respect she might have had for me.

Perhaps death would meet me in the embrace that my darling had left me in.

Aloud, I chuckled.

“I eagerly await that day. The day that I pluck the last little hope you have for escape. Perhaps then, you’ll come around.”

She visibly flinched at the words dripping from my mouth. The pride she had shown moments ago vanished in the fear that crossed her features.

“You are a vile, disgusting monster,” she managed to say. Though the tremble in her voice was clear as water. “I will never love you.”

And I would never love her. But it wasn’t love I was looking for. Not anymore.

There would be one of two outcomes from this. Either we were at war with her father, or she would concede to marry me.

Either option was preferable to the court than marrying Ruth.

“Well, we shall have to see about that, won’t we darling?”

The moment the word ‘darling’ crossed my mouth, I felt my insides curl. There was no reason I should have said that.

With the betrayal of that word clinging to my mouth, I opened the door to the outer chamber and called for the captain.

**Author's Note:**

> Even I don't know the twists and turns the story is taking. But I couldn't let Chris Barnett's brilliant Royal Acting challenge go to waste. This time, the king has gone down the path to madness. Hopefully, there is a redemption for him.
> 
> Thanks again to @thechrisbarnett for the inspiration. All dialogue is directly quoted from his TikTok.


End file.
